Cheyenne Mountain boys' soccer suffers early exit in state tournament

But on Wednesday night, the Cheyenne Mountain boys’ soccer team experienced heartbreak when the ball hit the crossbar and went just left or right of the goal. Many of the players fell to the ground in disappointment after a 1-0 loss to No. 20 Standley Lake of Westminster at the Cheyenne Mountain soccer field in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.

The No. 13 Indians ended their season with a 9-5-2 record.

The Gators’ lone goal came from junior Alex Trinidad-Gonzalez, whose shot in the 67th minute went off the goalkeeper’s fingertips.

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From there, Cheyenne Mountain upped its offensive attack. The Indians said they believe they controlled the game. By one player’s estimate, they possessed the ball about 70 percent of the time.

“It comes down to who can put the ball in the back of the net,” Indians senior midfielder Sam Kilimann said. “They did that and we didn’t… It doesn’t matter unless you score.”

The game was a tossup until late in the second half. Both teams were strong defensively and had a number of scoring chances.

Cheyenne Mountain perhaps got its best shot with about three minutes left in the game. From about 20 yards, Rodrigo Pereira fired and hit the crossbar before the ball fell in front of the goal line. The senior forward then placed his hands on his head, as if in disbelief.

“I felt like we dominated the entire game,” Martinez said. “We had 10, 15 viable chances that we should have put in and we didn’t. Things we would’ve been a lot different. We would’ve been cruising 3-0, 4-0.”

But the season didn’t end without some accomplishments for the Indians, including finishing 5-1-1 in the competitive Pikes Peak Athletics Conference.

“We had some adversities that pulled us together,” Martinez said. “And that’s why I thought we were going to do some great things because we battled so many different things between the tough schedule, all the illnesses and injuries to come back and do what we’ve done. It’s unfortunate for these guys.”